CambridgEx

metrowednesday (03.09.11)

2011-03-09T20:05:00.001-08:00

It's a shame I haven't posted in such a long time, because it's really fun to look back and watch my progress as a rock climber.
I've been consistently going at least once every two weeks since I started back in the fall, and more recently, I've started going multiple times per week because I have a monthly membership for March (thanks Groupon!!).

Today, I climbed with Eddie and his roommate Lisa. Having a 3 person rotation was nice, since I'm still a little sore from yesterday.

5.9, pink, back corner near crackwall. Too easy.
5.10a, orange, overhung. Took a lot of breaks on the overhang. I avoid overhangs because they're hard... but I'm going to try and do this climb everytime I'm at MR until it comes down. It's just challenging enough, but gives a tough work out.
5.10, white, corner by the pullup bars. Super balancy, but totally did it!
5.10b/c, green, in chimney corner. Stemmy, tricky, fun. Hard, but doable... I could stem all day!!!

If I can climb 5.11 before leaving Boston, I'll be SOHAPPY.

metromonday (10.25.10)

2010-10-25T22:31:00.000-07:00

Eddie's turning out to be a great climbing partner by making me climb routes that I'm uncomfortable with, and being incredibly supportive while I do it. If I keep climbing with him, I think I'm going to get much better quickly.

5.9 purple, "Stemming 101": Tricky route in a chimney that, as its name would suggest, has a lot of stemming.

5.9 orange, "DNA": Route I couldn't finish a few weeks ago but nearly climbed clean this week.

5.11 black: Route I pretended to climb after Eddie climbed it. Got to about the 3rd hold before bailing.

5.10c neon yellow. Made it about halfway up before giving up. Felt pretty good about getting the first move and was amazed it worked out.

5.9 green, "Mantlepiece": In the "Crypt Ticket" corner. Great stemming/mantle-ing route. The trickiest part is the beginning; mantleing upwards from there.

5.10b Black/Pink, "Berry": Would've gotten through this one if I had unlimited time.

Went to Border Cafe afterwards with Christie, Martin, and Eddie.

It's been a long time

2010-09-27T21:57:00.000-07:00

It has been a long long time since I posted anything in here. Climbing has happened so much, that I stopped documenting my progress!!!

Ultimately, I kept climbing more or less every Monday until mid-June when Christiane went back to Germany for the summer, and then started back up in late September after my play concluded, and just before she went back to Germany again. In mid-June, I was climbing 5.9s regularly, and did a 5.10a and a 5.10c (both clean, actually). After not climbing for a long time, my skills aren't quite up to speed, but I'm able to do 5.8s and 5.9s without completely blowing.

Metro Monday, the absolute LAST time I'll ever climb with Christiane at MetroRock...
5.8 on main wall
5.9 on short wall
5.8 (blue) on center wall; overhangy, not clean
5.9- pink; couldn't do the final moves

We got in pretty late (8:35), and I wanted Christiane to get a lot of climbs in; we also joked around a lot and didn't take things to seriously.

Afterwards, we went to RedBones with Mike and Jeff, and I bought Christiane a drink and food, because really, after belaying my ass all this time, she deserves it. Mike made us laugh basically nonstop with his stories of Burning Man. Incredible.

Beyond climbing, my athletic abilities have really changed a lot in the months since I've written in this blog. It seems like overnight I've become an endurance athlete. This weekend, I ran 10 miles on Friday, biked 74 miles on Saturday, rock climbed on Sunday, and climbing again today... my body is sore, but happy.

Morning Run

2010-04-06T06:13:00.000-07:00

Did a run/walk around the Charles this morning
3.5 mi. route

Ended up running into Semmi Kim, who I haven't seen in about a year. And, I believe the last time I saw her was when I ran into her running on Mass Ave. She's adorable. :-)

On an unrelated note, I bought a basketball, and have spent a few hours already just shooting around at the local court. People in the neighborhood are suuuuuuper nice!

metromonday (03.22.10)

2010-03-26T12:10:00.000-07:00

It's been 5 days, so I can't remember the exact routes I did, though I was climbing a lot of 5.9s.

5.8 - red with two overhangs
5.9 back by the bouldering wall.
5.8 - orange, overhangyish one. success!
5.8 - black. really tricky for some reason?
5.9 - crazy split one, lots of fun
5.8 - long one, right at the end, bailed before finishing.

maybe some other stuff.

trying to work on the 5.9s. mehmehmeh!

Surfing roadtrip

2010-03-12T20:33:00.001-08:00

Tomorrow morning, I'm going down to DC to meet up with Bryan, a long time friend from middle/high school. We're going on a SURFING ROADTRIP from DC to Florida. And, I don't know how to surf.

More stories/details in the future.

For now, packing list:
- Wetsuit
- Ridiculously cool 80s shades
- Neoprene socks/boots
- Rainjacket :-(
- Undies x8
- Socks x3
- Sandals
- Running shoes
- Bras x2
- Sports Bras x2
- Shorts x2
- Jeans
- Skirt
- Capri army awesome pants
- Long-sleeve shirts x 4
- T-shirt x2
- Short-sleeve shirt x2
- Jacket (wearing)
- Camera & charger
- Kindle & charger
- Cellphone & charger
- Toothbrush/paste/floss
- Shampoo/conditioner/bodywash/hairgel
- Deodorant
- Earrings, of course!!

metromonday (03.08.10)

2010-03-08T20:34:00.000-08:00

I failed to post the last time I went to metrorock (02.22.10), and failed to go last week! (03.01.10)

So... here we find ourselves at another juncture.

5.9 - Face. Part of the route-setting contest. Not clean, but practically clean.
5.8 - Route setter contest, orange. Almost on the arrete, but not really.
5.8 - Route setter contest, red. Zigzaggy one; one that I intended to do last time.
5.9 - Route setter contest, yellow. Not clean.
5.9 - Blue, right beside Wet Feet, set on 02.23.10. Couldn't finish it.
5.9 - Route setter contest, red. A little overhangy; didn't finish. This is the second time I've attempted this one... still can't do it.

Biking Running and such

2010-02-21T09:14:00.001-08:00

Goddamn, what a beautiful day!!!

Biking: Total of 11 miles, in a few discrete trips: route
Running: 5 miles, walked some. route

metromonday (02.15.10)

2010-02-15T19:42:00.001-08:00

cooooooooookies everywhere!!! christianne is a cookie-eating machine, to say the least!!

she secretly ate 6 snickerdoodles at the gym, and i never saw it happen.

5.7+ - short blue one

5.9 - red one (i think?) closest to the chin-up bar. not clean, but managed more or less.

5.8 - new-ish blue one. sucked my way up, but finished. should be easier now that i know the route

hands-free climb. AWESOME.

5.7 - blindfolded

5.7 - yellow one. i wanted to do the zigzaggy red 5.8 on rope 30, but my broken toenail was like "fuck you," so i went down a grade. probably my easiest climbing day in awhile, but fun.

oh metrorock, how i love thee

Snowpocalyse '10 averted, but snow nevertheless

2010-02-10T20:03:00.000-08:00

List of things that 5 years ago I thought were impossible:

- Going cycling in a snow storm for an hour, for fun.

Temp: 28 F

w/ windchill: 15 F

Windspeed: 22 mph, gusts at 31 mph

Clothing: Puma boots, gym shorts + goretex pants, blue wicking shirt + blue rain jacket, balaclava, ski goggles. had on mountaineering mitts, but they were too warm, so i mostly just had bare hands. Balaclava also got too warm/difficult to breathe, so had a bare face most of the time.

Route: 12.1 miles

Ok, so only the first 8 miles were from my hourish bike ride. But I wanted to see how much I biked today.

Also, 8 miles/hr is super slow... but with all the snow, and a crazy head wind, pretty hard. :-)

Harvard Stadiums

2010-02-06T14:09:00.000-08:00

I've always heard stories of people running stadiums at Harvard Stadium, ie, running up and down the stairs, all around the bowl. Today, I gave it my first go.

Temperature: 23

With wind chill: 13

Apparel: Running tights, wicking shirt, purple fleece, fleece gloves, fleece/acrylic hat with ear flaps.

Route: 3.9 miles

The gates to the Stadium were open, however, I couldn't find easy access to the stairs. I ran around the stadium 1.5 times to find an easy way, but just ended up using my climbing skills to scale the cement wall with the aid of a metal pipe fixture. I ran up and down the stairs, making it about 1/3 of the way around the horseshoe before I needed to catch my breath, then proceeded to finish up the rest of the half. No need to kill myself on my first stadium attempt, right?? Climbed back down, walked a little to cool off, then ran back home and collapsed on my couch for some amount of time.

All in all, a great workout that will definitely be repeated!!!

metromonday (02.01.10)

2010-02-06T14:06:00.000-08:00

I realized that I didn't post last Monday night/Tuesday morning. Mostly because we stayed out relatively late at Atwoods (left around 1am), and then after taking people home, I got my 2nd birthday present from Avi!

So, now I don't particularly remember what I climbed...

- 5.9 on the left side of the back wall that was tricky but perfectly suited for my skillset

- 5.8 red, vertical horizons. i think i didn't finish it.

- at least two other 5.8s, maybe some pluses in there.

Also, we didn't get there until about 8, due to Christianne being late and then me being late. It's all good!!!

Winter School, Week 3

2010-01-25T22:35:00.001-08:00

It's the third weekend of Winter School 2010, and I finally did a trip worth writing up in this exercise blog!!!

We hiked up to Kinsman pond, which is a

metromonday (01.25.10)

2010-01-25T22:25:00.000-08:00

Christianne and I were feeling kind of bleh for various reasons, so we took it relatively easy. I successfully climbed very few routes.

5.8+ white on the back wall. Didn't finish.

5.8- pink, love.

5.8+ pink, looking for a knubbin.

5.8 white, new one to left of crypt ticket.

5.8 black, new one to right of crypt ticket.

5.8 white, easy one on back of middle wall.

5.8 pink, new on on left wall. Didn't finish.

I timed this to see what my total time would be for getfit purposes. About 30 minutes of actual climbing, in exchange for about 1.5 hours of being at metrorock. Interesting trade off.

Pull-up is amazingly close now. I'm amazed at this!!!

metromonday (01.18.10)

2010-01-19T09:41:00.000-08:00

I can't believe I've been climbing once a week for three months now. Seems like I'm not really getting too much better... and I'm not too sure that'll change with this once a week plan. But no matter! Still fun. Climbed with Brendan, Christianne, and some random guy name Elipe.

5.8 pink love one that used to be a 5.9-
5.8+ new white one that I couldn't do last week. Wasn't clean, but still happened.
5.8+ pink one
5.9- short green one by back wall. Attempted and failed.
5.8 yellow. One that I climbed with Alice a few weeks ago. Made it up, but shoddily.
5.8 green, slightly overhangy. Slow and ugly, but climbed it.
5.7+ yellow in back corner. When I couldn't climb this clean, I knew twas time to stop. :-)

I also attempted two v0 bouldering routes, did a few almost pull-ups and chinups.

metromonday (01.11.10)

2010-01-12T07:06:00.000-08:00

Sicksicksick, but still went to metro because... well... maybe it helps? (It didn't help. I haven't been able to get out of bed yet, or even sit up. Or think. Ugh.)

Arrived around 7:15 with Christianne, climbed more or less until close.

5.8 blue KoopaTroopaBeach. A really weird climb, fun. Didn't climb clean. Forearms hurt already, a remnant from ice climbing, no doubt.

5.8+ brand new pink one, long, near main entrance. Just the perfect kind of climb for me. Only messed up toward the end while reaching for a hand hold that was not a hand hold at all. Go straight up!

5.8 green. short route; one that Alice and I failed on before. Climbed cleanly.

5.8- pink. The one towards the back with lots of little handholds. Climbed cleanly.

5.9- white. The Filter is Broken (near the 5.8 pink love one). Sucked at it, but Christianne belayed me up the wall. Sigh.

5.8 red arret. Couldn't figure out the end... whaaaaat?

5.8+ new white one toward back right corner. Made it about halfway up, but couldn't survive the 2nd overhang.

Christianne successfully climbed 5.10a, 5.10b, and gave a 5.11a a run for it's money.

End-of-day-pull-up-attempt getting closer...

metromonday

2009-12-21T23:26:00.001-08:00

Drove to Metro with Avi; climbed with Avi twice, once with Mike, later switched to Alice. Randy & and his pal were around also. Christie and Jason took the intro course. zomg, so much climbing.

Got in around 6:30, and didn't leave til close. Gotta love it!

5.9. pink one near the 5.8 yellow. unsuccessful, sadly. made it maybe halfway up before giving up.

5.9. topsy turvy. completed practically clean, with avi's encouragement.

5.8. hunter green. almost clean. i think i couldn't do this one last time i tried it.

5.8. the yellow one previously mentioned. pretty tough, but i made it up with some stops along the way.

5.9-. short green one. made it most of the way up, but couldn't quite finish. hopped on the 5.8 pink one right next to it to finish.

5.8-. pink. small handholds. didn't climb clean, but was funfunfun.

5.8+. pink. one i've done before. still couldn't do cleanly, but eff that shit.

5.8. red. cript ticket. after watching alice do this one, it's apparent that i've been doing it wrong... but, yet, i successfully climb it every time and love it, and it's my favorite route? gotta do what you gotta do.

5.9+. pink? or maybe white? the route that avi started the day on is the one i finished on. couldn't get past the place he got stuck... but maybe if it weren't the end of the day?!

And, my end-of-the-day pull-up is getting SO CLOSE to happening. I'm perhaps just as excited about that as I am about being on the verge of 5.9. Well, I guess since I've climbed a 5.9, that means I'm no longer "on the verge"... but still... I'm not quite confident that I've hit my goal of climbing 5.9 before the end of the year.

Also, should've effin' applied for the Red Rocks trip..

Also, after returning home, I headed out again to meet up with Randy, Rosemary, Mike, Avi, and their two other friends to go sledding at Danehy Park. Flipping awesome.

Bike route: 8 miles.

Walking in Winter Wonderland

2009-12-20T13:49:00.000-08:00

Due to the #snowpocalypse, Boston got about a foot of snow. Being that people are out of town or otherwise busy, I went for a long walk through Boston.

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=3373940

8.9 miles, 4 hours, and one break at a used book store to purchase "Snow" by Orhan Pamuk, "Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man" by James Joyce, something by Kafka, and another book too, I think.

metromonday

2009-12-07T21:36:00.001-08:00

This will start getting a little repetitive, but I don't care...

Hit Metro again with Christianne. Brendan showed up simultaneously, as did Avi, Mike, and Randy, so we had quite the crowd!

Brendan and Christianne wanted to get some lead climbing in, so Avi and I hit the climbs together first...

5.7+ yellow overhangy one (clean)

5.8 dark green, right beside yellow overhangy one on the back wall (not clean...)

5.8+ yellow, short route in middle of the short wall (first time finishing... couldn't do it last time I tried!!! still not clean, of course)

Brendan bailed due to his wrist injury, so I swapped out and finished climbing with Christianne.

5.8 super fun red route

5.10a... Christianne made me do this... I cheated/sucked my way up...

5.8+ pink route (not clean. tired.)

Mostly 5.8s now, getting better at 5.8+s. 5.9s by the end of the month for sure. :-)

metromonday

2009-11-24T19:47:00.000-08:00

Christianne and I climbed at Metro. Hopefully she'll be my new climbing buddy... I think we're both in need of one. (Though, she's probably looking for someone to lead climb with.)

Routes:

short 5.7 (tree frog, green)

5.8 (white)

5.8 (blue) (a route i couldn't do last time i tried... and still didn't do cleanly)

5.7 (lickety split, blue)

effin' around on some cracks

5.9... handhold was loose, so I popped onto the 5.7 beside it.

5.7+ (split decision, green) (been meaning to do this one for awhile!!!)

5.8 (red) (also been meaning to do this one for awhile!!!)

Slowly but surely, I'm getting better. I can now climb in the 5.8 range, more or less. And I'm able to climb more routes without getting overly exhausted. All smiles.

3 Mile loop

2009-11-22T10:16:00.000-08:00

[49, overcast. still t-shirt/shorts weather]

I decided to extend my 2 mile loop to a more acceptable 3 mile loop.

This is going to be my new route for awhile, maybe... Running along the river might be less than ideal as the cold weather approaches.

Was trending towards calf cramps at the end of the run... maybe I'm dehydrated? Maybe I need salt? I vote for salt.

Rock Climbing

2009-11-22T10:08:00.000-08:00

I've recently taken to rock climbing, both indoors and outdoors. While I'm not very good (and maybe never will be, given my body type), I'm having a lot of fun doing it, and it's a very different workout/muscle set than I'm used to.

Where to go:

MetroRock has an $8 ladies night on Monday. Boston Rock Gym has a $1 ladies night on Wednesday. And RockSpot has a $10 ladies night on Saturday. Between the three of those, indoor climbing is happily happening without breaking the bank. Additionally, Rumney, NH is ~2.5 hour drive, and works out to about $10 when splitting gas money amongst a few people. Not too shabby at all.

What you need to get started:

Climbing shoes

Harness

Belay Device

(optional) Chalk bag/chalk

I got my shoes from backcountry.com on sale for $60 and my harness and belay device from a friend for $40. My hands sweat mad crazy a lot in the gym, so chalk and chalk bag were totally necessary; got them for ~$15 from backcountry.com during the same sale.

Apartment Hunting Makes for Good Running!

2009-05-07T14:36:00.000-07:00

[70 degrees, lightly overcast, somewhat muggy.]

I'm trying to decide between apartments, so today I went for a run to one of them. It's more or less in the same neighborhood I live in now (Cambridgeport), just slightly closer to the river by about maybe 3 minutes walking. I dig it. The neighborhood is quaint, much calmer and quieter than what I'm used to, and the fact that a bus stops right in front of the house is perfect.

In any case, here's my run: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2801240
Distance: 3.5 miles

I seriously hope the last time I went running wasn't actually late April... what a loooser.

just runnnnning in the rain!

2009-04-21T14:56:00.001-07:00

The weather today not too inviting for a runner: overcast, mid-50s, rain ranging from light to moderate... and yet, it was a surprisingly AWESOME day to run!!
~4.2 miles, but I walked at least .5 miles of it, due both to my out of shapeness, and my desire to watch the subway crossing the Longfellow bridge.

I'm really glad I'll be staying in the area for a few more years. It's really just a great place to run, even on crappy days like today. There are so many places to explore, the Esplande is just wonderful, and traffic isn't heavy enough to be bothersome. For the most part, I might get stopped a half-dozen time by lights during a run, but that's only because I'm not specifically trying to avoid them, and also because I don't really mind them to begin with. In the winter, it's a little less fun, just because you can get so cold if you aren't constantly moving. However, now that it's trending toward Spring, traffic lights are a welcome addition. (And in the summer, I'll just kind of pray for them.)

I'd really like to run the Freedom Trail sometime before I go overseas this summer. Once I get back, I'll be too out of shape to do it for awhile....
I also thought it'd be pretty freaking awesome to have running tours of Boston. Maybe when I get into better shape, I'll start this up. With the number of tourists flooding the city, I'm sure there are bound to be a few that want to see Boston on foot!!!

Route: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2750891

Common Calling

2009-03-14T12:51:00.000-07:00

Another pleasant day in Cambridge!! Following what will hopefully be the last snow of the year, and a fairly cold week, the temperature rose to 50ºF this afternoon, with quite a bit of sunshine as well. That calls for a run.

My hamstrings were a little tight due to a PE class that decided to require some squats and lifting, so I thought I'd just do a short run. But, after getting going, Charles St. looked incredibly inviting. I took it rather easy, and paused every mile or so to stretch my hamstrings. It ended up being a great decision to extend the run beyond the Esplanade, as the tourist season is starting to pick up, and there were a ton of people out on the streets. It was like people-watching on the go. :-)

5.2 mi loop
Route: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2634321

Pleasant Run

2009-03-07T21:05:00.000-08:00

54ºC and sunny here in Cambridge, MA, one of the nicest days since winter started.
I went for a 6 mile run doing a MoS/BU Bridge loop.
Not sure if it was the weather, or the fact that I've been dying to go for a run for days, but I didn't get tired or even think about stopping!!! My right foot was numb for about a mile, as I had tied my laces a little too tightly on that foot. Also, I need to wear double socks to prevent blisters, as I was desperately close to getting some today. Time for the run was a little less than an hour; right on my goal for 10-minute mile pacing.

6 mile route: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2616044

Cambridge Running Routes

2007-11-21T13:53:00.001-08:00

Cambridge Running Routes
Beginning and terminating near Central Square

2.5 mi (Mass Ave, Mem Drive, Brookline St.)
3.1 mi (Mass Ave, Mem Drive, River St.)
4.1 mi "Almost Harvard Loop"
4.7 mi Mt. Auburn Loop
7.8 mi Mt. Auburn Cemetery Loop

Cambridge Running Routes

2007-11-21T13:53:00.000-08:00

Cambridge Running Routes,
Beginning and terminating near Central Square

2.5 mi (Mass Ave, Mem Drive, Brookline St.)
3.1 mi (Mass Ave, Mem Drive, River St.)
4.1 mi "Almost Harvard Loop" (Franklin St, Dewolf/Quincy Sts Kirkland/Washington Sts, Webster/Portland Sts)